The plan to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 from 2030 has sparked anger from French unions. More than a million people demonstrated against the reform proposals on Thursday, but the government does not want to give in. “Backtracking now would mean giving up on trying to bring the system back into balance,” Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt said after the meeting. The unions have already announced new strikes.
French governments have struggled for decades with this reform and the mass protests against its plans. It is not possible to change the expensive and complicated system built by professional group. Now that the Council of Ministers has approved, only the Parliament has to approve the proposals. This is not certain, because the government of President Emmanuel Macron currently lacks a majority.